The author of Beginning With Disability: A Primer is Nirmala Erevelles. She is a professor at the University of Alabama and has published works on disability and social oppression. Eli Clare is the author of the work entitled Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling With Cure. Eli has been disabled since birth due to the complexities that emerged during his birth.
Erevelles (2017) writes that disability is a form of social oppression as racism. Moreover, disability often serves as a consequence of racism and accompanies the problem of inequality in society. Nirmala also writes that the inequalities in society created by racial differences lead to the emergence of objective factors that influence the chance that members of oppressed groups will develop disabilities. Because of the proximity of race and disability, the author encourages the reader to think about the need to present race and disability as transformative coalition policies that protect the rights of both groups as one. Clare (2017) argues in his work that cure policies are a form of oppression and discrimination against people with disabilities. The idea of a cure for disability implies disability as a form of illness or some problem, the solution that should lead a person to the “normal form” they should have. In addition, the author objects to the idea of combating disability, allegedly requiring the application of some effort. Clare attempts to convey that disability is not a form of dysfunction or illness that requires a particular indulgence or the need for treatment but is an integral part of the individual and their history.
The arguments presented in Erevelles’ work are valid, as the author uses many examples to prove the connection between disability and race. This work continues the development of the idea of the interconnectedness of various forms of social oppression that exist within the framework of feminist ideology. Still, it brings new insight into how disability can result from social inequality. The arguments presented in Erevelles’ work are also quite valid, as they rely on the personal experience of the disabled person and explain the problem from the point of view of a member of this social group.
This work presents a new point of view on the topic of disability and the need for its treatment. From DS’s perspective, this paper presents new insights into the study of the characteristics of the individual and their right to maintain those characteristics beyond stigma or undue public scrutiny.
References
Clare, Eli. 2017. Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling With Cure. Durham: Duke University Press.
Erevelles, Nirmala. 2017. “Disability and Race.” In Beginning With Disability: A Primer, edited by Lennard Davis, 115-122. Routledge.